Building a control tower and extending a runway at the Fort Collins-Loveland Airport may soon be back on the front burner following the announced departure of Allegiant Airlines.

Officials have wanted to make these improvements for years, but tight budgets and opposition by neighbors to noise from air traffic have stymied their efforts. The departure of Allegiant Air, the airport’s sole commercial carrier, has renewed consideration of both.

Allegiant, which accounted for nearly all of the traffic at the airport, did not disclose its reason for stopping its flights to Las Vegas and Phoenix, telling officials only that the move was an “internal business decision.” Allegiant informed officials in an unexpected conference call Aug. 27 that it would stop service at the airport.

The airline’s withdrawal took the region by surprise, especially in light of what sounded like good performance numbers. The number of passengers who had boarded planes at the airport increased 26 percent to nearly 45,000 last year from the year before. Allegiant passengers represented 95 percent of that total.

Fort Collins Mayor Karen Weitkunat said a tower could help woo another carrier. Similarly, a